Girls earn home court advantage

By Dean Geddes

Saturday

Mar 1, 2014 at 2:00 AM

It was all business for the girls varsity basketball team last Wednesday, as it defeated the South Shore Voke Vikings 66-35 at home, securing a number-four seed and home-court advantage for the first round of the state tournament.

The girls finished the season with a 15-5 record, tied for the best regular-season finish of head Coach Willis Ferreira’s eight-year tenure.

The Whalers hosted the 11th-seeded Tri-County Regional Tech Cougars (11-9) yesterday, too late for this edition of Sports. Check out the A section of this week’s Inquirer and Mirror for a game summary. The two teams have not met this year.

“We’re just going to concentrate on what we do,” Ferreira said of playing a team for the first time in the tournament. “If we do what we are supposed to do, we will be playing (in the second round).”

In last week’s final regular season game, strong defense helped the Whalers open up a 20-4 lead as they held the Vikings to only two field goals in the first seven minutes.

With the game tied at four, Aileen Fredericks intercepted a South Shore pass and took the ball in for a layup. Fredericks kept things going on the next Whaler possession, grabbing an offensive rebound and scoring a layup off Angela Paterson’s missed three-pointer.

Another defensive stop and the Whalers were right back on offense. This time senior Aislinn Dugan drove hard to the basket and scored a layup in traffic.

On the next series, Paterson was off and running after a defensive steal. She went the distance and scored a fast-break layup as she was fouled. She made the ensuing free throw, converting on the three-point play and giving Nantucket a 13-4 lead after three and half minutes.

Paterson scored three points the more conventional way, nailing a three-pointer on Nantucket’s next offensive possession, as the Whalers continued to stretch their lead. On the next series, Mandy Cahill battled in the paint to score a bucket in the low post.

The Whalers held their own on defense again and Anna Burnham grabbed the defensive rebound, dribbling the distance of the court for the layup. The shot increased the Nantucket lead to 20-4 with just over nine minutes left in the first half.

“It’s nice to see us playing well at home and getting big leads. The last couple weeks we’ve been playing with lots of confidence, and that goes a long way,” Ferreira said.

The Vikings eventually got back on track, scoring six points in the next four minutes of game time. But Paterson buried all thoughts of a South Shore comeback by hitting a pair of three pointers on back-to-back possessions, both coming off assists from Dugan, that put her team up 30-11.

Cahill grabbed an offensive rebound and scored just as the buzzer sounded, giving the Whalers a comfortable 35-12 at half-time.

In the second half, Ferreira went to his bench and they continued to add to the lead, outplaying the Vikings on the glass and in the paint.

With five minutes to go and the game well out of reach, Erin Lindsay corralled a pair of offensive rebounds and scored on consecutive possessions. A minute later Whitney Butler got the ball in the paint, and made a nice low-post move, spinning to the basket and scoring.

On the next trip down the court, Calli Moore scored in the post as she went strong to the basket, giving Nantucket a 65-28 lead with two and a half minutes left.

“It’s a good thing to have when you can play all 10 of your players,” Ferreira said.

At this point Ferreira subbed in his seniors, Evie O’Connor and Dugan, who came back on the court to a loud ovation to finish the game.

Dugan finished the game with 14 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three steals. Paterson led the team with 15 points, and she also had three steals.

Reach Dean Geddes at sports@inkym.com

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